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GUEST COLUMN: Bobolinks doomed because of politics

Sentinel & Enterprise

Updated:
06/08/2014 06:32:29 AM EDT

By Wendy Howes

Guest Column

About nine pairs of bobolinks are nesting at the Mount Jefferson Conservation Area in Hubbardston, less than half as many as in 2012. The beautiful male birds are singing their unmistakable bubbly songs and doing courtship flights while the females are building their hidden nests and laying eggs. Of course they don't know that their nests are doomed -- the nests and nestlings will be mowed down within the next few weeks unless the select board uses its authority and establishes a bird-friendly hay management plan for this town-owned property.

The sad thing is that destroying these nests is completely unnecessary. Old-fashioned politics is to blame for a heartless management plan.

Taking advantage of our town's widespread apathy and a lack of understanding about birds, the Open Space Committee has deliberately and systematically blocked every single effort to protect nesting birds on this property for many years.

Whenever anyone asked the OSC chair to delay mowing at this location, she said she was "sympathetic to the birds," but that "nothing" could be done to change "The Plan."

When she and the OSC were told that many things could be done to protect the birds, the response was: Well, the farmer pays a hay lease fee to the town, and he won't want to pay if he can't cut early.

OK, we said. We'll donate the leasing fee to the town, and the farmer can cut the hay late and keep any profit.

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That won't work either, we were told. The farmer will not mow the fields if he can't mow early for maximum profit. And the OSC won't be able to find anyone to mow twice after mid-July.

Wrong! Our group was able to find at least three farmers who said they would be willing to mow the Mount Jefferson fields after mid-July. Hooray! Protect the birds, keep the fields cut, everyone's happy, right?

Apparently not. As soon as other (bird-friendly) farmers became interested in the property, the OSC and Selectboard decided they couldn't simply award the hay lease as they had in the past. Now it had to go out to bid.

A request for proposals went out, and surprise! The RFP outlined numerous details for hayfield management, but those in charge of the language made sure that absolutely nothing in the bid package referred to bird protection. Basically the message to interested farmers was: bid high, cut whenever you want, and to heck with the bobolinks. Obviously the farmers willing to make a reduced profit by haying late couldn't compete. Surprise again! The farmer who has held the lease since this property became a town conservation area submitted a very high bid and won the right to harvest whenever he wants.

MassAudubon, at our invitation, approached the OSC about doing a free study of the property in order to try to assess the density and nesting patterns of bobolinks and other birds. The idea was to encourage a management plan that could benefit the farmer and also help the birds. The OSC chair called MassAudubon's Ecological Extension Service in person to decline the offer. The EES was told that the conservation area didn't need a study because it is already known that bobolinks are nesting there! The underlying message was: "We don't care about the birds."

A subtle undercurrent to this disagreement about bird-friendly management is the false notion that bird conservationists are against farming. This is ridiculous. But we are concerned about possible bias since the OSC chair is a farmer who wants to manage this conservation and recreation property primarily for agriculture. Fine. Let's keep haying this property. But let's use bird-friendly haying practices so that nature lovers can enjoy the place, too.

The OSC makes a final argument that "the bobolinks can nest somewhere else." However, if they try to nest in any of the other 150-plus acres of private hayfields in the area they'll be mowed down early in those places, too. (We aren't involved with private landowner decisions, but we're happy to work with landowners who want to protect grassland birds on their properties.)

Unless our selectboard uses its power to insist upon sensible, compassionate care and control of the Mount Jefferson property -- or unless there is a lot of rain throughout June and early July -- the Mount Jefferson bobolink nests will be wiped out again this year. Anyone can do the math. It's only a matter of time before these birds, which are in serious decline throughout New England, are eradicated from this property. Maybe that's what the OSC wants.

Next time you hear someone on Hubbardston's Open Space Committee say that he or she is "sympathetic to the birds," ask him or her to prove it.

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